Onward they went, pushing through the cloud of dust, the wind getting stronger and stronger.
Lela could not sense Xavier. She felt as if she was walking alone through a tunnel.
“Xavier!” she yelled. “Where are you?”
“My, my,” someone said.
“Xavier?”
“Your angel is no longer here,” the person said.
“Who are you?” she asked, feeling the air with her hands.
“While you were frolicking, your father, oh your poor father was pleading for you…begging me not to hurt you.”
“Are you Godfather Death?” she asked, unable to open her eyes because of the wind and dust.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess of the Kingdom of Barmoth. Stiltz told me you’d be coming to visit me. She’s such a wretched witch, isn’t she?”
“Please let my father go!” she yelled.
“You’re such an interesting girl. I have to admit I’m quite taken, quite, indeed.”
“I’ll do anything. Please…I’m begging.”
“Unlike Xavier, I have no desire to possess you,” he said, laughing.
“What then?” she asked. “What do you want?”
“What makes you think I want something? I didn’t ask for any of this. You may thank Stiltz for your predicament. She sent your people and your father here. She’s quite the thorn…always vanishing people.”
“Will you set my father free?”
“Of course not! He’s mine.”
“Let me see you,” Lela said.
“You’re in my kingdom. Make no demands of me!”
“I meant no disrespect,” Lela said.
“You’re never going to see your father again.”
“No! Please tell me what you want. Take me instead.”
“That’s not how it works, dear princess. I decide when to take someone’s life. And I don’t want yours. You’re only just beginning your life. I want to see what you do with it. Go back to Barmoth and lead your people. They need you. Your father is old and ill. His time as king has passed. I’m keeping him as an act of mercy and well, because I’m also curious about you. I want to see what you become. Will you take your place as queen or will you hide in the shadows of the Barmoth forest with a vampire?”
Lela started weeping. She wanted to pull out all of her hair. She wanted the wind to pick her up, carry her high into the air and then let her go. She wanted to die. Let the Kingdom of the Dead take her, too.
“Will you not change your mind?” she asked.
“You shouldn’t have come here. This place is not for you. When I’m ready to take you, you’ll know it.”
“What do I do now?” she asked, crying.
“What you do with your life is your decision.”
“How do I get home?” Xavier, oh angel, where are you?
“I shall return you to the place your heart is craving.”
“I want to go home,” Lela pleaded.
“Open your eyes,” he said.
“I can’t. The wind…the dust.”
“Open them! I’m losing patience.”
When Lela opened her eyes, she was standing in the foyer of Eldrich’s house. Grasping the door handle, she unlocked the front door. She’d not stay in his house.
“Don’t go.”
“I didn’t come here by my own will,” she whispered.
“Your hair is completely red. What happened?” he asked.
She glanced down at a strand. Her hair now resembled the red sky of the place she and Xavier had traveled through.
“I’m not the same person,” she said.
“Is your father safe?” Eldrich asked.
Sighing, Lela lowered her head. “I failed him.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I need to go back to the castle. It’s where I belong,” she said, stepping outside onto the porch.
He joined her.
She couldn’t bring herself to turn around. She didn’t want to see him.
“Will you ever forgive me?” he asked.
“You broke my heart.”
“Not telling you the truth was wrong. But please, you have to know I didn’t want any part of what my kind did to your mother. I abandoned my kind after that night. I abandoned my place as prince. I regret it all. I regret not telling you.”
Tears in her eyes, she turned to face him.
“I want to hurt you,” she said.
“I don’t deserve anything less,” he said.
“I wasn’t faithful to you,” she said, swallowing.
He looked at the moon and then back at her.
“I enjoyed it,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
He rubbed his brow.
“Say something!”
“Have you stopped loving me?” he asked.
“I enjoyed it all so much. Do you hear what I’m saying to you? I fucked someone else!”
“You wanted to hurt me. Well, you’ve done it.” He entered the house.
She went after him. “Is that all you’re going to say?” she asked, standing directly in front of him.
“I love you more than anything in this entire wretched world. I would do anything for you. Anything. I can’t breathe without you. I can’t sleep. I can’t think. I’m hopeless without you. My heart…my soul…my everything belongs to you,” he said.
She slapped him. “I just told you I slept with another man and that I enjoyed it and this is your response? I hate you!”
He tried to hug her but she stepped away.
“I’m lost. My father is gone. Everything I knew is a lie. What am I to do now?”
“You’re strong. You’re brave. You will lead your people and take your place as Queen of Barmoth.”
“I can’t. I just can’t!”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Did you sleep with the witch?” She wanted to faint. Her entire body hurt. Imagining Eldrich with someone else made her want to vomit. Yet, she had no right to feel the way she did. Curse my soul!
“Yes.”
“She got what she always wanted from you.” The witch who cursed Eldrich, turning him into a frog for not lying with her had won after all.
“She doesn’t matter,” he said.
“How do we fix this?” She loved him. And she was not ready to give him up. In her soul, she knew he was kind and that he loved her.
“Can you forgive me?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
Forgive him for not telling her he was the prince of the Barmoth vampires. Forgive him for not telling her he had arranged for her mother to offer herself to his kind in return for Lela’s safety. Forgive him for not telling her he knew who she was the day he pulled her out of the well. No, she did not know whether or not she could forgive him.
But, there was one thing she knew without a single doubt. She loved him. Yet, she did not regret her sexual encounters with Xavier. Just two and a half months ago she was a princess living in a castle with nothing more to do but wander the forest aimlessly as if she were seeking something more, something adventurous, as if she were seeking love, yes love. And here she was, completely in love with a vampire. And here she was, a woman having had sexual experiences, having suffered loss, having suffered betrayal. She was alive, and free, and ready to take on whatever lie ahead for her. She’d hold her head up high and walk with no regrets.
If Eldrich truly loved her, he’d have to accept her as she was, a woman whose blindfolds had been removed, a woman who longer suppressed her desires, a woman who had made mistakes and would make many more. In return, she would accept him, despite his past, despite the secrets he kept from her, despite everything, she would love him, truly love him.
“Do you still love me?” he asked, his eyes bloodshot.
“With all my heart,” she said.
“I will never keep anything from you again,” he said, taking her hand.
She embraced him. “I love you, I can’t deny it.”
“Lela,” he whispered. “I’m yours, only yours.”
“And I’m yours,” she said. “What now? Where do we go from here?”
“Wherever you want, I’ll follow you to the end of all the kingdoms.”
He kissed her. Oh how she had missed his touch. Her very soul cried out with happiness. Godfather Death had returned her to the place her heart craved.
“Will you follow me upstairs?” she asked, leading him to the staircase.